In an exclusive interview with HT Lifestyle, Priyasha Saluja opens up about her PCOS journey, entrepreneurship, and women’s health. Priyasha Saluja is a hormonal health coach, plant-based pastry chef and the founder of The Cinnamon Kitchen. She gained widespread recognition after appearing on Shark Tank India, where her pitch and conversation with Aman Gupta resonated with viewers, ultimately leading to an investment in her venture. In an exclusive interview with HT Lifestyle, she opens up about living with PCOS and creating The Cinnamon Kitchen.Priyasha Saluja is a hormonal health coach, plant-based pastry chef and the founder of The Cinnamon Kitchen. (priyashanotpriyashah/Instagram)​Also read | PCOS is now called PMOS: Everything about the name change to symptoms and treatment of PMOSPriyasha Saluja's take on women's health and PCOSPriyasha highlighted that women's health is looked at more as an aesthetic rather than something that is happening more deeper, and that needs healing. “It took a long time for PCOS to be recognised as a metabolic symptom and not something that's just related to reproduction and is happening in the ovaries,” said Priyasha. According to Priyasha, PCOS impacts overall health. It affects your metabolism, how you feel, look, and everyday functions as well.Sharing her journey, Priyasha highlighted that she was diagnosed with PCOS at the age of 13 years and was put on heavy medications and diet. However, getting diagnosed was a relief because at least now she knew what was happening with her body and how to manage it. She recalled that when she was diagnosed with PCOS, awareness about the condition was limited. Today, she says, conversations around PCOS have become more common, and there are far more resources and tools available to help people manage it.Priyasha also mentioned that PCOS has entirely changed her equation with her body. During her journey, she realised that medications aren’t the right way to treat this, and it needs a lifestyle fix. “That actually led me to change my complete lifestyle in terms of the kind of things I eat, the kind of things I avoid, the kind of activity I do in my. On a daily basis, like, you know, being mindful of the cortisol that my body is releasing, the sequence of eating, the timing, my sleep, everything, you know, and it also led me to start the cinnamon kitchen to help other people, you know,” said Priyasha.Navigating health in the age of social mediaIn today’s world of social media, when everyone seems a health influencer, finding credible sources feels like a task. Priyasha agreed that social media is full of bad advice that might negatively impact overall health. She recommends focusing on sustainability when it comes to lifestyle and diet. “Extremes never work. I will only have salad and soup, and I will not eat any carbs, and I will not have anything that's from outside, and I will not eat a single dessert. And then you do that for three days, you go on that sprint, and then after that, you know, you go ahead and have your bag of chips, and you have your burger because your body's craving for it, and your body is actually releasing more stress because you're putting it in extremes,” added Priyasha.What does Priyasha want every woman with PCOS to know?According to Priyasha, the most sustainable way to deal with PCOS is the fact that you need to eat in a way that is sustainable for your body in the long run. That means eating a good amount of fibre, having protein first in your diet, cutting out processed foods, getting a good eight hours of sleep, keeping stress levels under control, and making sure you're not having a lot of sugar. “If you follow a sustainable lifestyle, you will be able to manage it better and also be able to sustain it for a longer time,” said Priyasha.Priyasha also highlighted that no medication can really claim to cure PCOS. “There are a bunch of medications that you'll have, and each one will have a positive effect and a negative effect,” Priyasha told HT Lifestyle. “Everybody can be in different places in their life, but there is no substitute for a healthy lifestyle,” added Saluja.The birth of Cinnamon KitchenPriyasha doesn’t believe in compromising on taste even when eating healthy, which led to the start of her business venture, The Cinnamon Kitchen. Priyasha shared that she started sharing her healthy dessert recipes on Instagram and later realised that people are reaching out to her to make that for them, and eventually it became a business for her.Amidst several wellness brands, The Cinnamon Kitchen stands out because it follows a certain philosophy of offering the best, when it comes to quality, quantity, taste, and price. “I'm a hormone health coach, so I make sure that whatever I'm formulating is on those lines, and there is no compromise on taste,” said Priyasha.Priyasha Saluja Shark Tank India experiencePriyasha appeared on Shark Tank India on January 22, 2024, and it completely changed her as a founder. She highlighted that it gave her brand a presence and served as an opportunity for growth.“It’s been a very upward journey since Shark Tank for me as a founder, because just having that platform to represent the product and then really understanding what the customer wants through that process has been great. People getting to know the brand has been great, and also just getting a network of other founders, and people building different things with as much passion, helps you understand who you are and the space that you want to occupy, sharpen that positioning,” said Priyasha.Anukriti Srivastava thrives at the intersection of words and voice, where journalism meets storytelling. A digital editor and journalist with over 5 years of experience, she has written across lifestyle, women issues, relationships, entertainment, fashion, and travel. She did her Masters in Broadcast Journalism and has published more than 500+ lifestyle content pieces across platforms.